Bitcoin Production Takes More Energy Than Switzerland
Cambridge University have published a research that estimates that Bitcoin production consumes more energy than the whole of Switzerland.
The university’s Centre for Alternative Finance produced the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. The tool provides a real-time estimate of the total electricity load and consumption of the Bitcoin network.
According to CryptoGlobe, with the estimated nature of the data – based on all types of Bitcoin mining hardware – the index provides a range of possibilities:
- Lower bound – assuming a “best case scenario” where every miner uses the most energy-efficient equipment and maximises expected profits
- Upper bound – assuming a “worst case scenario” were all miners use the least efficient devices available and operate at massive losses
- Best guess estimate – attempting to place an educated guess somewhere between the upper and lower bound that “more accurately quantifies Bitcoin’s real electricity usage”
Per the Cambridge research, the comparison looks at the inefficient use of energy and estimates that the amount of electricity consumed every year by “always-on but inactive home devices in the USA” could power the Bitcoin network for four years.